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Der Rat hat heute den siebten Fortschrittsbericht über die Umsetzung der vom Rat der EU und vom NATO-Rat am 6. Dezember 2016 und 5. Dezember 2017 gebilligten 74 gemeinsamen Vorschläge zur Kenntnis genommen.

Der Rat hat beschlossen, die von der EU als Reaktion auf die rechtswidrige Annexion der Krim und Sewastopols durch die Russische Föderation verhängten Sanktionen bis zum 23. Juni 2023 zu verlängern.

Zwei Männer, zwei Fischerruten und das grosse Chaos im Wasser: Reto Scherrer bringt es in seiner Actionshow «Achtung, Reto, los!» fertig, seinen Interviewpartner und Komiker Jonny Fischer zur Verzweiflung zu bringen.

Der 21. Juni 1982 war für das Vereinigte Königreich ein besonderer Tag. Prinzessin Diana und Prinz Charles wurden das erste Mal Eltern. Geboren wurde an diesem Tag Thronfolger Prinz William.

Madiha Derouazi est récompensée pour ses vaccins thérapeutiques contre le cancer. L’immunologiste française Elodie Belnoue est co-lauréate du prix.

Le Centre interprofessionnel technique d'études de la pollution atmosphérique (CITEPA) vient de publier ses dernières estimations de rejets de gaz à effet de serre de la France. Le ministère de la transition énergétique se félicite : -9,6% entre 2017 et 2021.

Blick liefert im Hinblick aufs Eidgenössische Schwing- und Älplerfest in Pratteln (27./28. August) den wöchentlichen Königs-Check.

In Deutschland fürchtet man sich vor einer neuen Corona-Welle im Herbst. Deshalb fordern jetzt mehrere Bundesländer von der Regierung, sich auf schärfere Schutzmassnahmen vorzubereiten. Wie sieht es in der Schweiz aus?

Dans un entretien exclusif avec EURACTIV France, la directrice générale d’Oxfam France Cécile Duflot alerte sur l’ampleur des bouleversements climatiques et plaide pour un changement radical dans les politiques publiques.

Le gouvernement a officiellement ordonné au ministère de l’Industrie d’établir un grand pôle industriel destiné à être intégré à l’industrie automobile, par le biais d’usines récupérées auprès d’hommes d’affaires poursuivis dans des affaires de corruption, contre lesquels les autorités judiciaires ont rendu des décisions définitives. Selon une correspondance émise par le bureau du Premier ministre, […]

L’article Vers la reprise du montage automobile en Algérie ? est apparu en premier sur .

Des vagues de Covid se produisent à nouveau dans le monde entier, poussées par de nouveaux sous-variants d'Omicron.

Die Löhne der Chefs von an der Schweizer Börse kotierten Unternehmen sind im vergangenen Jahr mehrheitlich gestiegen. Vor allem die Bonuszahlungen zogen nach einem Dämpfer im ersten Corona-Jahr wieder deutlich an.

Mobbing-Anschuldigungen belasten Herzogin Meghan schwer. Der Palast leitete deswegen schon vor längerer Zeit eine Untersuchung ein – doch das Resultat soll nun verschwiegen werden.

Serbian President Aleksander Vučić has said that he and his Albanian and North Macedonian counterparts will announce on Wednesday (22 June) at noon whether they will take part in an upcoming EU summit, set to have a big focus on enlargement.

As cigarette smuggling in Southern Africa becomes big business, researchers have expressed concern that tobacco consumption is increasing in younger people and developing countries. Credit: Ignatius Banda/IPS

By Ignatius Banda
BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe , Jun 21 2022 (IPS)

Cigarette smuggling has emerged as one of the most lucrative enterprises between Zimbabwe and South Africa, with border authorities seizing contraband worth millions of dollars in recent years.

Last month, South African police confiscated cigarettes worth ZAR1,7 million (about USD105,000) from Zimbabwean smugglers who have taken advantage of porous border controls between the two southern African countries for years.

In November last year, another Zimbabwean was nabbed as he attempted to smuggle cigarettes worth ZAR30 million (about USD1,850,000) into South Africa, where there is a ready and expanding market for cigarettes.

The following month, another Zimbabwean was caught attempting to smuggle cigarettes worth ZAR2,6 million (USD160,300) into South Africa. The escalation of the movement of contraband highlights the complexity of not just border controls but how cigarettes and tobacco are proving to be the new gold for criminal syndicates.

As a global anti-tobacco lobby grows amid concerns of unabated tobacco-related deaths, researchers are training the spotlight on tobacco consumption and its toll on public health and national economies.

In a new report by the University of Chicago, researchers who have created a Tobacco Atlas after surveying 63 countries say global smokers now exceed 1.1 billion people.

While, according to researchers, global smoking prevalence is dropping, from 22.6 percent in 2007 to 19.6 in 2019, Africa and other developing parts of the world are recording an increase in tobacco consumption, the report says.

The findings will likely concern African governments where public health services are already struggling. The Tobacco Atlas researchers raise concerns about tobacco-related diseases and deaths in developing countries.

Tobacco-related diseases are expected to increase in future years in countries with low Human Development Index scores, the Tobacco Atlas researchers predict.

“Some African countries are seeing an increase in adult and youth smoking. What we’ve seen in Africa is the slowest decline in smoking prevalence of any region,” said Professor Jeffrey Dope, lead author of the Tobacco Atlas and a professor of public health at the University of Illinois.

“The tobacco industry is aware of this. They are working very hard to convince governments that tobacco is very important for the economy. Unfortunately, they’re having some success,” Dope said during a Zoom report launch early this month.

Further findings noted that more young girls than boys are taking a puff, with the ubiquity of social media “influencers” being a driver of the trend.

“Global progress is threatened by growing smoking rates among children aged 13 to 15 in many countries and by tobacco industry tactics such as targeting poor countries with weak regulatory environments,” the researchers said.

“We have countries where female teens smoke more than male teens and adult females, which is happening in different parts of the world,” said Violeta Vulovic, senior economist at the Institute for Health Research and Policy at the University of Chicago.

“The tobacco industry aggressively markets to children, especially through flavour products. And through social media, especially influencers, the industry clear understanding that the peer-to-peer effect is perhaps the most effective way to get kids to try smoking,” Vulovic said.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says tobacco causes more than 8 million global deaths annually. More than “7 million of those deaths resulting from direct tobacco use, while around 1.2 million are the result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke.”

Covid-19 has only added to global health challenges that have pushed the tobacco agenda to the periphery, researchers say.

“In the wake of Covid-19, countries are prioritising public health and investing in strategies to support health and economic growth,” said Nandita Murukutla, one of the contributors to the Tobacco Atlas research.

“For countries that want to recover, tobacco control should be high on their agenda,” Murukutla said.

However, with African countries continuing to rely on tobacco for forex earnings, findings contained in the Tobacco Atlas are not likely to persuade governments to slow down the production of what across the continent has been called “green gold.”

One way to deal with the increase in smoking, the University of Chicago researchers say, is to “raise taxes on tobacco.”

“This is so that kids cannot afford to smoke. We know from decades of research that young people are extra sensitive to price,” Vulovic said.

The researchers say this has worked in other African countries to stem the illicit cigarette trade.

“Countries should look to Kenya as an example of a country that is keeping its tobacco taxes high and controlling its supply chain – little illicit trade – successfully,” Dope told IPS. “These modest investments in tax administration in Kenya have reaped huge rewards in terms of increased tax revenues, which they then reallocate to social programmes such as health and education, among others.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Ukraine has detained a senior government official and a business leader suspected of being part of an alleged Russian spy network, the Security Service of Ukraine said on Tuesday (21 June).

Croatie : requiem pour la santé publique
Covid-19 en Croatie : situation dramatique à l'hôpital Dubrava de Zagreb
Santé : Farmal, « l'affaire Mediator » qui fait tousser la Croatie
Santé en Croatie : les infirmières tentées par le grand départ

/ Courrier des Balkans, Croatie, Santé, Société

Croatie : requiem pour la santé publique
Covid-19 en Croatie : situation dramatique à l'hôpital Dubrava de Zagreb
Santé : Farmal, « l'affaire Mediator » qui fait tousser la Croatie
Santé en Croatie : les infirmières tentées par le grand départ

/ Courrier des Balkans, Croatie, Santé, Société

Written by Tambiama Madiega with Anne Louise Van De Pol.

The artificial intelligence act envisages setting up coordinated AI ‘regulatory sandboxes’ to foster innovation in artificial intelligence (AI) across the EU. A regulatory sandbox is a tool allowing businesses to explore and experiment with new and innovative products, services or businesses under a regulator’s supervision. It provides innovators with incentives to test their innovations in a controlled environment, allows regulators to better understand the technology, and fosters consumer choice in the long run. However, regulatory sandboxes also come with a risk of being misused or abused, and need the appropriate legal framework to succeed.

In April 2021, the European Commission presented a proposal for a regulation laying down harmonised rules on AI (the ‘artificial intelligence act’ or ‘AI act’). Academics and stakeholders have commented on the proposal, touching, in particular, on issues regarding the lack of liability protection for sandbox participants, the need for a more harmonised approach to AI regulatory sandboxes, and the interplay between AI sandbox and EU data protection rules.

The European Parliament has called for introducing regulatory sandbox instruments in several resolutions. Its April 2022 committee draft report on the AI act argued for more transparency on the implementation and use of AI sandboxes.

Read the complete briefing on ‘Artificial intelligence act and regulatory sandboxes‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

Abdelhakim Serrar va se porter candidat pour la présidence de la FAF. Le président de l’ESS déposera bientôt son dossier de candidature. Il souhaite avoir plusieurs personnalités footballistiques dans son bureau. La succession à Charaf-Eddine Amara pour la présidence de la FAF est ouverte. La course vers la structure de Dely Brahim est lancée entre […]

L’article AG élective de la FAF : Serrar affiche sa prétention est apparu en premier sur .